


You Turn Me On I'm a Radio

by javajunkie



Category: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Genre: Benny Watts - Freeform, Beth Harmon - Freeform, Beth harmon x Benny watts, F/M, Romance, pre-Paris, two dorks in New York pretending they're not in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:16:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27810622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/javajunkie/pseuds/javajunkie
Summary: "Do you still like my hair?"Benny says it'll never happen again.  Beth decides to test that theory.
Relationships: Beth Harmon & Benny Watts, Beth Harmon/Benny Watts
Comments: 22
Kudos: 310





	You Turn Me On I'm a Radio

Beth never believed she could find anything that satisfies her as much as chess, but then she ended up underneath Benny Watts – and on top – and it was as if a flip went off in her head. Before him, she didn’t understand what all the fuss was about sex. At first, it felt like a rite of passage. After that, a sort of relationship currency. Sex was just something she did, not anything she particularly enjoyed. But then those speed chess games happened, and what happened after, and she got it. 

And then Benny tells her it’s never going to happen again.

“It was the beer and chess,” he says the next morning.

“There’s always beer and chess,” she argues lightly. “I don’t see what difference that made.”

“It made a difference,” he says. His voice is strangled. Nowhere near convincing, but he sticks to his story and she thinks, fine, try to pretend it won’t happen again. It now becomes her mission to make sure that it does.

She uses all the usual reinforcements. The habitable bomb shelter, as she lovingly referred to his apartment, had worn away some of her finer inclinations, but she brings them back in full force. A touch of lipstick. Perfume dabbed behind her ears and just below the dip of her neckline. When she passes him in the apartment, she can see him tighten his grip on his coffee cup. 

“You know that stuff gives you cancer,” he says gruffly one afternoon.

“What stuff?”

“The perfume.”

She stares at him. “It causes cancer? Where did you read that?”

“Somewhere.”

“Somewhere,” she repeats, nodding slowly. “What a reputable source.”

“I know what you’re doing,” he says. “And it’s not going to work. You can’t seduce me.”

“Who says I’m trying to seduce you?”

Benny walks past her to the refrigerator and says, “It’s not going to happen.”

* * *

One night they are at a local bar and Cleo stands next to Beth, both of them with their backs pressed against the bar. Benny had just left them, and Cleo says, “You two have slept together, haven’t you?”

Beth looks over, surprised. “You can tell?”

Cleo grins. “A woman can always tell. How was it?”

Beth’s cheeks flush and Cleo’s grin widens. “Good boy. I am glad to see I taught him well.”

Beth’s eyes widen. “You and Benny…”

“Ancient history,” Cleo says with a flick of her hand. “But, yes.”

“Not that it matters,” Beth says. “According to Benny, it is never happening again.”

Cleo laughs and says, “Famous last words.”

* * *

The training for Paris picks up and Beth forgets about her efforts to rediscover the post-speed-chess-coitus. They play chess at all hours of the day and night, Beth often collapsing onto the air mattress fully clothed, not even having enough energy to pull the cover up over her. Benny is a patient teacher, but even he can start to see that her nerves are fraying. He proposes that they take an afternoon off and they walk down to Central Park, the sunlight warming their otherwise pale faces on the cold afternoon. On their way back, it starts to snow and about a block from his apartment, the snow turns to sleet. They run the rest of the way and when they get inside, they are both wet and frozen.

“Well, that took a turn, huh?” Benny says, stripping off his coat. 

“I think that is proof we should never go outside again.”

Beth peels her sodden coat off of her, teeth chattering. Her hat hadn’t done much to protect her hair from the sleet and it sticks to her face like it had been painted there. Benny walks over with a towel and hands it to her. She rubs at her hair, trying to get as much of the moisture out as possible, and when she finishes she notices that he is watching her. His hair is flopped down in front of his face, and she watches a drop of water hang precariously, waiting to drop. He doesn’t push the chunk of hair away and her hand itches to do it herself. And so, she steps forward and she does. She can see him swallow hard before he drops his mouth to hers and kisses her.

“After all the lipstick and perfume, _this_ does it for you?” she asks with a soft grin.

She is pretty sure she looks like a wet dog, and smells like one, too.

He frames her face with his hand, tilting her face up toward his. “It was never about the lipstick and perfume.”

And then he is kissing her again, and she thinks about how the other time it probably had been a little bit about the beer and chess, but now it is only about her. She had caught sight of herself in the reflection of the window when they came in, and there is nothing alluring about her in this moment, but he is kissing her soundly, one arm banding around her waist as he walks them back to his bedroom. Both of their fingers are somewhat numb from their shared failure to bring gloves for their Central Park trip, and Benny shakes his head when he tries to ineffectually undo the buttons on the back of her dress.

“Here,” Beth says, turning around. She takes his hands in hers and begins to rub them. 

“I don’t think that will work.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I think I have frostbite.”

She grins. “You don’t have frostbite.” 

“Do you know this from your vast experience with frostbite?”

“I think there’s a way to bypass the buttons.”

She sits him at the edge of the bed and shimmies the skirt of her dress up her hips before settling on his lap. Benny grins, palming her waist.

“Good thinking.”

She leans forward and kisses him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She can feel him beneath her, and she wants nothing more than to get going with what they had started, but something makes her stop. She pulls back so that they are at eye level.

“Do you want this?” she asks.

“Are you really asking me that right now?”

“You said it would never happen again. Repeatedly.”

He sighs, his hands settling on her thighs. “I thought it would complicate things. Which, it probably will. But, I don’t really care anymore.”

“I was that good?” she jokes.

He holds her gaze and murmurs, “Yes, you are.”

Beth feels her breath catch in her throat and suddenly she is nervous. It had just been sex before, but this is different. Part of her wants to run, but thankfully, that part is outvoted and she leans forward and kisses him. A few minutes ago, she had been frozen, but now her entire body burns as she reaches down and unbuttons his pants. He pushes them down, his arm winding around her waist as he lifts his hips, and then she is sinking down onto him. They move in tandem, foreheads pressed together, and improbably, perched on Benny’s lap on the edge of his bed, Beth understands for the first time why some people call it an act of love.

* * *

Paris comes, just as they knew it always would, and Benny drives her to the airport. He’s quiet on the drive and she knows what he’s thinking. Their relationship had shifted and grown in the Paris-bubble they had made for themselves. Like a perfect scene inside a snow globe. Who knew what happened when they both returned to their regular life. Kentucky for her. Nighttime poker games for him. 

“I’ll call you when you get back,” Benny says, and she realizes that she has no idea if what he’s saying is true.

“Okay.”

“Or you can call me.”

She smiles slightly. “What if we both just think the other is calling?”

He nods his head. “That would be unfortunate.”

On impulse, she leans forward and kisses him. He tastes familiar now, like her favorite coffee or ice cream flavor. 

“I could come with you,” he says.

“The flight is probably booked.”

“Then I’ll take another one. The tournament is a few days.”

Beth kisses him again. “I’ll be okay.”

She senses they could have another round or two of this, so she forces herself out of the car, grabbing her luggage from the back seat. As she walks away, Benny calls for her. She turns back.

“Beat him, okay?”

Beth nods. “I’m planning on it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea after hearing Joni Mitchell's song "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio". It's a great song if you haven't heard it!


End file.
